pandowdy

American  

[pan-dou-dee] / pænˈdaʊ di /

noun

Chiefly New England.

pandowdies plural

1. a deep-dish pie or cobbler made with apples or other fruit and covered with pastry or biscuit dough.

   apple pandowdy.

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pandowdy British  

/ pænˈdaʊdɪ /

noun

1. a deep-dish pie made from fruit, esp apples, with a cake topping

   apple pandowdy

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pandowdies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pandowdy

An Americanism dating back to 1795–1805; perhaps variant of obsolete dialect (Somerset) pandoulde “custard”; see pan ¹

Explanation

A pandowdy is a baked fruit dessert with a broken crust on top. Apple pandowdy, popular in the 19th century, was reportedly a favorite of Abigail Adams. Somewhere between a cobbler and a pie, pandowdy is distinctive for its top crust, which is broken part way through baking. Think of it as a deep-dish pie that's been mangled with a fork. Pandowdy first appeared in cookbooks in the 1840s, and it's considered a classic American dessert. The name's exact origin is uncertain, but many recipes specify that the baker "dowdy" the crust, or make it appear less neat and tidy.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pandowdy pandowdies

There's also the apple pandowdy, an old-fashioned delight that's akin to a haphazard and partially baked pie.

From Salon ● Dec. 11, 2021

Best Dinner Theater Sweet: Cafe Nordo’s rhubarb pandowdy in a tiny cast-iron skillet.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 31, 2013

In due time, the fading flowers turn into apples, offering a thousand fulfillments: apple pie, apple cake, applesauce, apple cider, apple butter, apple jelly, apple dumplings, apple tarts, apple pandowdy.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the German-speaking communities in Pennsylvania, it was essential for a spiced baked apple dish called pandowdy.

From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler

And pandowdy with sorghum foam had the look, in a deep glass dish, of being apple sauce and pie-crust mixed, with a delicious pyramid of golden-colored whipped sugar standing in a point on the top.

From Maid Sally by Cheever, Harriet A.

Despite my years as a recipe developer and avid cookbook collector, I found myriad varieties of fruit-spiked coffee cakes, squares, brickles, slumps, pandowdies, and buckles that were new to me.

From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2022

Among the consumables: beaver bone soup, moose bone marrow, woodcock hung until it reached the desired “hallucinogenic point of decay,” caribou haunch, eels with sour-grass sauce, roly-polies and pandowdies.

From New York Times ● Jun. 16, 2016